A Brighter Tomorrow
by Ginger S
Summary: A Brighter Tomorrow: An Easter Story "The darkest night is often the bridge to the brightest Tomorrow." Jonathan Lockwood Huie If this quote strikes a nerve with you…then consider it another story challenge.


_**A Brighter Tomorrow**_

_**An Easter Story**_

_**By GCS**_

_**Emergency! belongs to Mark VII and Universal.**_

_**"The darkest night is often the bridge to the brightest tomorrow." ~ Jonathan Lockwood Huie**_

_(If this quote strikes a nerve with you…then consider it another story challenge. :o) Because we can't have enough E! fiction…can we?)_

"Rampart this is Squad 51…how do you read?"

"Read you loud and clear 51."

"Stand by for calibration."

"Standing by…received your transmission 51…looks good."

"10-4…51 out."

Dixie looked at the button for a second before switching off the radio. 'Wonder what's up with him today? He sounds tired…irritable.' Some loud voices near the ER entrance took her attention away from the bay station, and she hurried down the hallway to see if she could assist with whatever the ruckus might be about.

Captain Stanley walked into the bay in route to the kitchen for a refill of his coffee when he heard his paramedics in a heated conversation. He stopped to listen for a moment to make sure things worked themselves out. The two men were so involved they hadn't even noticed him standing there.

"I'm tellin' ya Johnny, it's not that easy!" Roy glared at Johnny.

"Of course it's not easy, Roy! Life isn't easy, but sometimes you just have to suck it up and get on with it!" Johnny slammed the squad compartment. "Sometimes you just have to face your mistakes. You can't change the past."

"You're wrong Johnny! Dammit you're wrong!" Roy turned abruptly and stalked out the back bay door. He slammed his fist on the trunk of his Porsche and planted his palms on either side. Johnny was visibly shaken at Roy's words. Roy rarely swore and he'd sworn at him.

"Everything all right John?" Captain Stanley walked up next to his junior paramedic. He noticed the shocked expression on his face and the tense way he stood there as though he'd been slapped.

"Yes, No…I don't know." Johnny ran his hand through his hair.

"What's going on?" Cap asked softly.

"It's Roy. He and I aren't agreeing." He paused looking out at his partner. "He'll be okay. He just needs some space." Johnny nervously met his superior's gaze.

"Let me know if things don't get better. I can't have my paramedic team at each other's throats." Cap patted Johnny's shoulder. The thing he wanted most to do right now is to go out there and ask Roy what had him so upset, but he could tell by the look in Johnny's eyes that he wanted to take care of it himself. He went on to find that refill for his coffee mug.

Johnny leaned against the squad and watched as a myriad of emotions could be seen coursing through his friend. After watching for a few minutes without any idea of how to make Roy understand, Johnny gave up and went to sit in his locker.

Roy battled with the anger that had raced through him at Johnny. They had been best friends for years without very many disagreements, but Johnny didn't understand this time. He just couldn't. He didn't have a wife and kids. He didn't have as much to lose. He paced the back lot running the events of the last few days through his mind. 'How could things have gotten so out of hand?' He asked himself.

Roy stopped pacing and looked up in time to see Johnny walking toward the locker room. He knew he was being unfair to his friend. The troubles he was having with Joanne weren't Johnny's fault. They weren't his either, really. His job kept him away several nights a week…nights that things happened. Kids got sick. Plumbing got stopped up. Cars broke down and had flats. Holidays and birthdays came and went. He provided for his family the best he could, but he couldn't be there all the time. His job prevented that. He'd chosen to become a fireman and then joined the ranks of rescue, finally to become one of the first paramedics in the county. It was a job he loved, but it might also be the undoing of his happy home. None of which was Johnny's fault. He could see how troubled Johnny was by the way his head hung and how his normally strong posture looked hunched. Johnny had become an integral part of Roy's family years ago, and when things at the Desoto home weren't right, he was affected too. "Damn." Roy spoke to the empty lot; then turned to the station and followed slowly behind Johnny into the locker room to hopefully salvage the rest of their shift together.

He never got that chance, because the klaxons rang out through the station in a long sequence of tones.

The two men didn't talk in the Squad as they normally did. The mood in the cab was tense. The timing for working things out wasn't right. They had a job to do. That always took precedence. The only words exchanged were with regard to the directions to the refinery.

Station 51 arrived first on scene leaving Captain Stanley in charge until the Battalion Chief arrived. His men needed little instruction. They began pulling the necessary hoses and preparing to embark on the effort to control the volatile situation. An explosion at a refinery could lead to additional explosions of nearby tanks and keeping that from happening required intense skill and accuracy in the attack. Captain Stanley began issuing directives to the arriving units.

Johnny and Roy donned their SCBA and approached their Captain for instructions. Not having any contact with the workers or supervisors onsite, they were pulling an additional line preparing to follow Marco and Chet when a soot covered man ran up to Hank screaming for help for his co-worker. The paramedics dropped their line. Hank ordered them in to assist the fallen man. Without hesitation they jogged over to the ladder that led to the various catwalks around the tower the man had indicated.

As they climbed from level to level they could feel the heat permeating the air around them. As they ascended higher the black smoke became denser. About two thirds of the way up, they finally reached the designated platform. They moved around the cylindrical tower to the prone figure. Johnny pulled one glove off to check for a carotid. He didn't feel the pulse beneath his fingers. He reached for the man's wrist to double check. Nothing. He looked up to meet Roy's questioning gaze and nodded; then lowered his eyes to the man saying a silent prayer for his soul and his family. He also said a prayer for the Desoto family. Life was too short to waste time in arguments. People could be stripped away in the blink of an eye. He knew that from personal experience. He prayed to the spirits for healing for the family he had become so close to.

Then knowing it would be entirely too dangerous to extricate a corpse the two paramedics moved back toward the ladder that would take them back down to safety.

Roy descended the ladder first. Johnny waited for him to get a few paces down before he too stepped onto the ladder. Level by level they retraced their steps. The heat seemed to envelope them. Their clothes clung to their heated skin beneath their turnouts, but they continued to climb down at a steady pace. Three more levels and they would once again be on solid ground.

Roy glanced at his partner just before stepping into the cage protected ladder. Johnny leaned heavily on the railing to the third level platform. They would both need to take a break and rehydrate, but right now they needed to get down. He continued to climb.

Johnny stepped up to the top of the ladder and as he turned to start down another explosion rocked the area. Arms flailing, balance lost. Three levels was a long way to fall.

Roy held on to the ladder as the tower swayed from the pressure of the blast. He watched in horror as his partner; his best friend who he'd yelled at earlier and hadn't had the chance to apologize to stumbled, fell over the rail and disappeared into the black smoke. "JOHNNY!" Roy began climbing down even before the swaying stopped. Fear tugged at his heart, but he refused to let it consume him.

Captain Stanley heard the humph as the air expelled from Johnny's lungs before he saw the crumpled figure on the asphalt. He ran to the fallen man and dropped to his knees. "Johnny!"

Pain radiated through his limbs. Air rushed from his lungs. Grayness filled his peripheral vision. Buzzing filled his ears. He felt the presence of someone kneeling beside him, but lacked enough strength to acknowledge him. His eyes slid closed and darkness filled his mind as he slipped into oblivion.

Roy hit solid ground and broke into a run. "Cap?" He questioned as he dropped beside Johnny.

Stanley looked at Roy. Words wouldn't come. He pulled his hand back from Johnny's neck where he'd checked for a pulse. He nodded.

Roy immediately began requesting the equipment from the squad, back board, splints, oxygen and bio-phone…everything…he needed everything. He leaned over his partner and carefully removed his helmet and gloves, checking for injury. He hesitated for a few second and sat back on his heels, closed his eyes and willed his hands to stop shaking. He felt his Captain's grip on his shoulder and nodded. He couldn't find any words either. They had seen Johnny through many things together. Words were not necessary for the two men to know they would do all they could for him now. Roy began removing the SCBA and cutting away the turnouts. He knew Johnny would have sustained some broken bones. You couldn't fall that far and not have at least a few broken bones.

"Rampart this is Squad 51…how do you read?" Captain Stanley's familiar voice called across the radio.

"Read you loud and clear 51."

"Rampart we have a Code I, paramedic down, victim of a three story fall to asphalt. Vitals to follow."

"51 can you identify the Code I?"

"Affirmative Rampart, Code I is John Gage."

Dixie's eyes closed. 'Why does it always have to be Johnny? I didn't even get a chance to see why he sounded so tense this morning.' She reached for the red phone on the wall and dialed the hospital operator. "Get me Dr. Brackett."

Time spun into a whirlwind of medical procedures to secure the dislocated shoulder, splint the broken leg and immobilize the neck and spine careful not to jar the tender hip. Johnny was oblivious to it all until several days later when he awoke in a medically induced fog alone in a too white, too bright room at Rampart. He glanced over at the empty chair beside his bed and wondered if Roy was still mad at him.

The next few hours crawled by for the injured man. He had too much time to think and worry about his friendship, time that was only broken by the occasional vitals check and soothing sip of water or of melting ice chips.

He didn't rest…didn't sleep…he didn't ask for pain medication…he waited, but Roy didn't come. Gloomy thoughts encircled him like the darkest night.

Then the door opened a crack and a sooty, sandy haired man peeked in…hesitated a second and then stumbled into the room after being nudged from behind. "Go on Roy. We want to see him too." Chet could be heard from behind.

"Keep it down Kelly. He might be asleep." Cap scolded.

"He's awake." Chet mocked. "How ya doin' Gage?"

Johnny didn't answer. He looked at Roy. Lines of pain stretched across his fore head and around his mouth and eyes. Roy turned and whispered something to Mike who disappeared through the door.

Marco patted his uninjured foot and leaned against the wall. They all knew him well enough to know he was saying silent prayers in Spanish for his friend. Even Chet understood and backed against the wall beside Marco.

Cap walked over to the bed and looked over his youngest crew man. "How are you holding up Johnny?"

"Okay Cap." Johnny whispered hoarsely. Cap helped him with some ice chips.

Not Roy…Cap…Roy always helped him when he was hurt. He must still be mad. Johnny closed his eyes and let the chips melt and the cool liquid slide down his throat unaware of the struggle his Captain had gone through after hearing his body hit pavement, and the gesture Roy had made allowing him to be the one to give Johnny some much needed relief.

Mike slipped back into the room and nodded to Roy.

The nurse wasn't far behind. She slid something into the IV port. Johnny could feel the cool liquid traveling up his arm. He opened his eyes to see Roy standing behind the nurse smiling. "Now don't let that pain get ahead of you again Junior."

Johnny looked deeply into the blue eyes he knew so well. Roy wasn't mad anymore. Brightness returned to his world. He closed his eyes and let the medication take him to a pain free place.

That was just over a week ago.

Now thanks to Roy's medical training and Brackett's soft spot for the two hose jockeys, he was snuggled in his room at the Desoto home.

"Uncle Johnny…" he felt the small hands touch his shoulder and gently shake him. "Wake up, Uncle Johnny we have to go to church. We're having it by the pond before sun's up." His eyes slowly opened to a golden haired angel with a blurry halo above her head standing beside his bed. "Good…now come on." The angel tugged at the warmth that covered his sore body and tangled around his limbs. He couldn't help the groan that escaped his muddled awareness when the sheet pulled against his shoulder. "Mommy says that Jesus got up today…" She pulled at the covers again trying her best to get him moving. "…and we have to thank him." The fuzzy figure bobbed back in front of his glazed eyes. All the movement was making the room spin and him nauseas. "Guess what Uncle Johnny!" She didn't wait for a response. "After we Thank Jesus for gettin' up we get to hunt for eggs. You know with a basket. Daddy said there would be a golden egg filled with money! I hope I find that one! So you have to hurry." She disappeared from view and he felt the pull against the covers from the end of the bed.

Johnny chanced a tentative look around the still dark room. The trickle of light from the hallway cast a shadow of the crutches leaning against the bedside chair on the wall. He closed his eyes and willed his stomach not to rebel. He'd only just arrived at his home away from home yesterday, and unbeknownst to his favorite little girl couldn't get up by himself right now if he'd wanted to. A fall from the third level of a refinery tower had left his shoulder dislocated, his leg broken and his hip badly bruised. He had several broken ribs and still suffered dizziness from the severe blow to his head. He was synched and casted over half his body, and lucky Dr. Brackett had even released him from Rampart. Roy had pulled the crutches out of the garage for when he could use them, but right now due to his shoulder the wheel chair was his only mode of transportation. Jennifer of course was too young to understand that.

"Jennifer Desoto!" Joanne scolded from the doorway. "Let your Uncle Johnny alone. He can't go to Sunrise Service today."

"But Mommy…you said…" Jennifer almost whined.

"I know what I said. Now come away from there and let Johnny rest. He's just not able to go this time. Daddy will get him up in a little while. We'll have a nice Easter dinner and you can show him your eggs." Johnny could barely make out the words as they moved down the hallway away from his room.

What seemed like a few minutes later, but was actually an hour, Johnny opened his eyes again. Now a beam of light peeked in from the heavily curtained window. Joanne had put up the curtains to block the sun when Johnny needed to sleep during the day. The Desoto's had dubbed this his room and did everything they could to make him feel welcome and at home.

"Hey Junior." Roy leaned forward and laid the newspaper he'd been reading on the bedside table.

Johnny shifted in the now smoothed sheets. He tried unsuccessfully to rise. Roy reached behind his back and lifted him easily into a sitting position, skillfully turned him to sit on the side of the bed and without question understood that Johnny needed to take care of some morning business. He helped him into the wheelchair and across the hall. After settling him he turned and moved to the door. "Can you manage from here?" Johnny nodded and Roy slipped from the room until he was needed again.

The aroma of coffee drifted down the hallway and called to him as Roy wheeled him toward the kitchen. His throat was still sore from the vent tube and residual scratchiness that accompanied a fireman's "day at the office", so he didn't say much, but let Roy know he wanted…no needed some coffee. "Smells good."

"I'll get you out onto the deck for some fresh air and bring you a cup." Roy moved around the chair to slide open the door. A gust of spring air ruffled Johnny's hair and he breathed it in. Today was a day to be thankful to the spirits for allowing Jesus to rise again. Roy came back with two steaming cups of coffee. "Careful it's hot."

"Thanks." Johnny said softly closing his eyes to enjoy the aroma before taking a careful sip. "Mmm."

"Joanne and the kids will be back in a little while. She has a breakfast casserole ready. Are you hungry now, or can you wait a while?"

"Coffee's fine." Thankfully his stomach had settled after a little more sleep, and his head didn't hurt so much out in the fresh air. He took another sip. "Thanks." He was still speaking softly and with few words, but the coffee was helping his throat tremendously.

Roy shifted nervously in his chair.

Johnny looked over at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Johnny, when you fell. I…we…you…" Roy was not a man who normally stumbled over his words, but this was important. He still felt that he owed Johnny an apology for the way he had acted the morning of the refinery fire when Johnny had been blown off one of the towers.

"'s okay."

That was all Roy needed to launch into his explanation. "No…no Johnny it's not. I took out my frustrations on you. That was unfair. I just get so disturbed sometimes when Joanne reminds me that I am not always here when things get crazy. I know she doesn't mean to upset me about that. She just needs to vent sometimes like she thinks I need to be reminded of all she does to make our family work. I know I shouldn't let it bother me, but on occasion it makes me question my career choice."

Johnny looked out across the back yard and waited for Roy to continue. He understood Roy's frustrations. He just didn't understand why Roy hadn't explained it to him rather than get so angry.

"Sometimes I think I spend more time with you than I do my own family." Roy ran his hand through his hair and let it rest on his knee. "I mean…you are family. Don't ever forget that. Okay? But you know when you've been with someone as long as you and I…as long as Joanne and I…you tend to take things for granted." He looked over at Johnny. "I think I did that with you at the station that morning."

"Roy…"

Johnny tried to tell Roy it was all right. He understood, but Roy was not finished yet. He wanted to make sure Johnny heard this while he had the chance to explain. He knew he'd almost lost the opportunity when Johnny was hurt again. "I took my anger out on you. You didn't deserve that. You've always been there for me…for us. You're a good friend Johnny. I'm sorry." Roy looked down at the coffee cup in his hand and waited for Johnny to let him have it.

Johnny felt the warmth of true friendship wash over him. "You know Roy…Jesus rose to wash us of our sins…right?" Johnny's Native American heritage taught somewhat differently the story of Jesus, but having one of his parents raised in the Christian world, he still believed.

Roy looked up and a smile touched his lips. "Yeah."

"Well he taught us forgiveness in completeness…right?"

"Yeah."

"All we have to do is ask."

Roy nodded.

"And it will be given." Johnny smiled.

"Thanks Junior." Johnny nodded. "Will you forgive me after Jenny gets home and makes you eat the eggs she found, and when Chris insists you have to watch Easter cartoons?"

Johnny chuckled. "Yep." The two men relaxed in the early morning breeze knowing their quiet time together was short lived. Joanne and the kids would be home soon and the bustle of family life would take over.

Johnny leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes basking in the warmth of family while Roy mimicked him basking in the warmth of forgiveness.

Their friendship had survived a dark moment but sometimes…"The darkest night is often the bridge to the brightest tomorrow" and with forgiveness comes such great possibilities.

The End.

Happy Easter! 2011

HE IS RISEN!


End file.
